New Delhi: A military helicopter with Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat, his wife and other officers on board crashed near Coonoor in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu Wednesday, the IAF said.
Sources in the security establishment told ThePrint that there were 14 personnel on board, including the crew of the helicopter which crashed in the forest area between Coimbatore and Sulur.
Sources said five bodies were recovered while four people have been rescued and taken to the military hospital in Wellington in the Nilgiris where the Defence Services Staff College is located.
The search and rescue operation for the rest is underway.
The Indian Air Force has ordered an inquiry into the chopper crash. The cause of the crash is yet to be ascertained.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the crash. The minister is monitoring the situation, sources said. A meeting of senior Ministry of Defence officials is on. However, Singh won’t be visiting the spot of the crash.
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